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Old 24th Apr 2002, 14:41
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Chimbu chuckles

Grandpa Aerotart
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
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During my time flying in PNG, 13 years, I never took anti malarials because they do have side effects........hearing and/or eye sight from memory......hmmm maybe memory as well

I did catch Malaria 5 times and a mild case of Denghi. I had Vivax Malaria 3 times and Phalciparum (sp?) twice.

Vivax is your 'classic' Malaria. The 'cure' for this one was a big dose of Cloriquin tablets, 3 only cause 6 will kill you!

Phalciparum is what can become 'Cerebral Malaria' if left untreated for much more than a few days and kill you in a week or so. 'The 'cure' for this one was a quinine injection, quinine tablets for a few days and then another tablet called fansidar which is almost worse than the malaria........I've never felt worse for 20 odd hours but it completely kills the bug out of your system.

As far as I'm aware there is no such thing is a true 'anti malarial', i.e. one that will stop you contracting it, all they can do is 'reduce the severity' of an attack. They also can mask the result of the blood test leading to a false negative.

If you take 'anti malarials' constantly as a prophelactic your body builds up an immunity and therefor reduces their effectivness as a 'cure'.

Having suffered Malaria has never been an issue as far as my ATPL is concerned.

I'm not a Doc........only a pilot but I hope this info helps.

Chuck.
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